Monthly Archives: April 2015

Nhaqosa had watched as Elad landed in the pavilion, cutting down first the lord and then his guards. The sheer audacity of the attack had amazed him, but Elad’s survival could no longer be a concern of his. He retrieved his maul and strode back towards the gates that led into the caverns beneath the pits. The gates were remarkably flimsy wooden affairs. Nhaqosa took his maul to them, splintering wood under the force of his blow. A second strike smashed through. Nhaqosa kicked the remnants out of the way, seeing two guards waiting on the other side, nervously facing him.

The difficulty would not lie in throwing the human, Nhaqosa reasoned, but what would happen beyond that. There would be no leniency shown, yet the human, Elad, seemed unconcerned by that. Chances of success were slim at best, yet the weariness of days uncounted fighting in the pits had settled upon his soul. Dispatching the beast had torn at his heart, for it had been an innocent, mindless creature, a victim as much as he. Better to die in a futile attempt to escape than to live on and further sully his soul.

When the Beast, Nhaqosa had first spoken, it had surprised Elad. He had not expected words from such an unlikely looking a creature; a minotaur, that had been the word Nhaqosa had used for himself. Yet as they spoke, Elad had sensed something in Nhaqosa, a strength and nobility of character not yet tainted by the pits, or by the dying world that they lived in.

Nhaqosa studied the man sent to battle him as the pair slowly, cautiously circled each other, crouched down with their weapons ready. A dark haired man, his skin was pale though, unlike those who lived in the region that Nhaqosa found himself in. A northerner then, which made him a long way from home. Not as far as Nhaqosa himself, but far enough.

Elad staggered out into the pits, unceremoniously shoved through the gates by burly guards. Moments later a sword flew out to land at his feet, one notched by use and the hilt still damp from blood. The burning sun hammered down from a cloudless sky, glaring off sand marred with crimson pools of blood. His head throbbed dully. Fingers probed at the lump at the side of his head that caused it. He tried to swallow but could not, his throat too tight from lack of water and his lips cracked.

The crowd screamed, baying for blood, for death, animalistic in their fervour. Their cries reverberated around the gladiatorial pit, rising to fever pitch as man and beast fought below. Fought and often died.

The site is slowly coming together and with the first story posted, it is time to plan for what is to come next.

I am planning to have a schedule of posting three times a week with new stories or chapters of stories given the length of many of them. Each post will be around 1000 words, give or take depending on what is happening in the story. That schedule should be Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Normally that will be done in Australian time.

I do plan for Monday and Saturday to be for short stories, while Wednesday will be for an ongoing serial at some point, though as to what it will be and when it will start, that is not yet certain.

For the time I will be starting off with The Chronicles of the White Bull, starting with The Pit. This collection is a series of 8 stories recounting the journeys of Nhaqosa the Minotaur through a dying world.

The sorrow-filled field at last lay still, the battle won, or lost, depending on perspective. Across it were strewn the bodies of men and horses, twisted into grim caricatures of the once living, and about them was the scattered detritus of battle; splintered shields and broken swords, discarded spears, arrows by the score and the once proud banners of knights and lords.

Pretty much what it says on the can. It is a growing collection of short fiction, series and serials of the SFF variety for the most – heroic fantasy, sword and sorcery, urban fantasy, cyberpunk, steampunk, space opera and the like – to be updated weekly, or more often, depending on circumstances.

I don’t claim that they are literature, but that they are more like escapism fiction in the style of the pulps. Action, adventure, fun.

I look forward to your feedback as the site expands and content is added.